Following the solar eclipse on Monday, in which many parts of Texas were able to witness the eclipse in totality, another phenomenon is now hitting the state. This time, the phenomenon is weather based in which a crazy storm has struck parts of the state with massive pieces of hail. There were also severe thunderstorms hitting whilst the hail was falling. Southern parts of the state of Texas were placed under a severe weather watch starting Tuesday evening and going into Wednesday. The storms were partially expected as some areas were even under warnings during the eclipse, but the severity of the thunder and hail has hit many by surprise.
The National Weather Service started tracking the event on Monday.
The weather focused organization was able to watch the storm as it trekked across the Gulf of Mexico. They watched it grow and knew that all that could be done was issue warnings and wait out the storm. Because of the way the weather pattern was travelling, some of the events scheduled for the eclipse had to be cancelled. For example, the Texas Eclipse Festival in Texas Hill Country was cancelled after Texas’ Governor Greg Abbot activated emergency response teams.
The storm has not been much like any other seen before as it included the severe thunderstorms and massive hailstones, but also strong wind gusts and small tornadoes throughout the affected part of the state. Different parts of the state have been on flood watch at different times, depending on the location of the storm at any given point. On Tuesday night, the Texas Panhandle was under flood warning. The warning was moved to the southern coast of the state by Wednesday.
The storm is expected to possibly move out of Texas into the Midwest.
The hailstones that have fallen throughout the storm are truly dangerous and pose serious risks to anyone outside. Many of the stones are more along the lines of fully frozen pieces of ice rocks. Texas residents have been collecting the stones and sharing them online with size comparisons. Some of the stones are in odd shapes, looking like a giant ball of different stones that merged together. Most appear to be larger than a quarter.
While all of this has been going on, power has been going in and out for many around the state. Despite this, people are still advised to stay indoors if they are in an area under storm watch.
